1. Field of the Invention
In general, the present invention relates to a method, system and program product for tracking web user sessions. Specifically, the present invention allows website usage data such as user volume and referring sources to be collected on an analytics system.
2. Background Art
As the use of websites in commerce becomes more pervasive, the need to track usage volume grows. Specifically, a website is only effective if it is being used. Accordingly, determining usage volumes has become am important part of web analytics. In general, website usage volumes can be used to answer numerous questions about a website. For example, the usage volumes can be used to determine, among other things: (1) how frequently the resources on the website are downloaded; (2) what resources are downloaded most frequently; (3) what web pages within the website are users visiting; (4) what are the most frequently visited web pages; (5) how many users are visiting the website on a given day; (6) how many users are visiting the website at any one time; and (7) how were the users referred to the website.
Traditionally, website usage data has been collected in HTTP log data. The data in the log is then analyzed by applying various algorithms. However, the accuracy of user session determination during HTTP log data analysis is not always ensured. Another method for analyzing website usage data involves the specification of a user cookie or web application parameter. The cookie is typically set by the website application while serving the web pages to the website user. It is then necessary for the website implementor to convey the cookie or parameter used to identify user sessions to an analytics engine. Unfortunately, the cookie or parameter is not available during the first request to the website. Moreover, the burden of implementing this solution is placed on the production website developer.
In view of the foregoing, there exists a need for a method, system and program product for tracking website usage data. Specifically, a need exists for a solution that can track web user sessions. A further need exists for an initial communication to be sent to an analytics system upon receipt of a web page on a user system. A need exists for the communication to include a unique identifier corresponding to the received web page. In addition, there exists a need for the analytics system to provide a session cookie that corresponds to a current web user session, and to transmit the session cookie back to the user system. Still yet, a need exists for all subsequent communications in the same web user session to be correlated with the initial communication based on the unique identifier and the session cookie.